Gudmar Peterson Icelandic Horse Clinic

Shari and I went to our first Icelandic Horse clinic together, with our Hildi and Greni in tow. We had initial hiccups in getting our transportation in order - it turned out to be easy to borrow a trailer, the truck was the hard part! The first truck I asked about had just given up the ghost permanently and they ended up borrowing my car... the second truck I asked about the owner had just ended up in the ER for the second time after a heart valve transplant (he has not given up the ghost!)... the third truck I asked about the owners had a trailer for sale and I got all distracted about that (it sold, not to me) and the forth one was only deemed safe enough for local trips, real local...  But with the generous help of Cordy (she drove from Pen Yann to pick us up in Ithaca to drop us off in Canandaigua, talk about a detour) we all made it safe and sound to the Finger Lakes Equestrian Center. And both horses loaded within 15 minutes each! Yay!

At the beginning of the session Gudmar do a general outline (the other guy is Steve, his helper). Here Greni and I are on the left, behind us is Shari on Hildi then Ruth on Molda and Chris on Sula (photo's by Ryan Chiappone of Finger Lakes Equestrian Center). There were three groups of four to five participants each in two classes each day - much more and I would have fallen off my horse at the beginning of the next day...

Here two of the clinic participants get a last word at the end of session from clinician Gudmar (Stan is filming it for his website Hestakaup.com - I did not realize it was that Stan until days after the clinic). 

 Even tho we paid for a stall Hildi and Greni ended up sharing a semi grassy paddock. And now I think they were the lucky ones! Greni really took to Hildi, she's definitely a type A personality and he pretty soon was following her like a doggie... The two days at the clinic both horses were always close by, even if there were other horses in the paddock. Greni even nickered at her from inside the arena during our last class and we all heard Hildi reply all the way from the front paddock! So now Greni has a girlfriend and when we go on a longer trip he can come for a sleep over. If only it was as easy to arrange regular play dates, like for my 4 year old!

Hildi is an extremely well trained horse, she 'laughs', shakes hands/hooves and even bows - it's impressive! I'm already happy with Greni touching (more like hitting) an object (piece of wood) with a front hoof of his choosing (have not gotten the one or the other difference in, I tap one, he chooses whatever). And boy, am I proud of that, hihi.